A little more than a day after The Denver Post revealed the NFL will suspend Matt Prater for the first four games of the season (a much shorter ban than originally threatened) for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, the Broncos’ kicker spoke to reporters after the team’s practice Monday, taking ownership for his actions and thanking his teammates and fans for their support.

“First and foremost I want to apologize to my teammates, coaches, fans, the entire Broncos organization, Coach Fox, and the Bowlen family and especially Joe Ellis for being there for me,” he said. “I can’t thank them enough for everything that they’ve done for me over the last seven years and I am really sorry. I have made mistakes and I hope to gain everyone’s trust back and I am going to work my tail off to try and help us win a championship this year. I take full responsibility for what’s happened and I’m accountable for it. It’s no one’s fault but my own and I am dealing with it, (will) hopefully learn from it and improve as a person and as a football player.”

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.